1/12/16

Did/Will your "healthy" diet turn unhealthy?

If you have been trying to
train your way to great fitness with a dieting mentality, you better believe
that in your attempt to improve performance, you may actually be becoming less
healthy.

Don’t assume that just because you are an
athlete, that health and fitness are interrelated because for many athletes,
they are not.

Just because you can run for 2 hours, swim
4000 yards or bike 100 miles, perhaps all in a weekend, this doesn’t mean that
you are healthy, especially if you are not fueling and eating adequately and
making smart lifestyle habits (like good sleep, good stress management,
etc.).

I have witnessed many
athletes who are extremely active, look fit or are dedicated to training, yet
when it comes to making smart choices with their diet, they are either too
extreme and restricted or too careless and negligent.

Have you or someone you know,
experienced one or more of the following while training for an event?

Whereas we all know that injuries and sickness are typical
health issues that affect athletes (especially endurance and high intensity
athletes and new athletes), the above list features some of the health issues
that are becoming more and more common among athletes, especially new or
endurance athletes, due to not fueling properly around and during workouts,
training too intensely or too long or due to food or calorie restrictive diets.

The physical demands of training and racing, especially in
endurance events can be so extreme that it is no surprise that many athletes
are unable to maximize performance and keep their body in good health at the
same time.

But, when an athlete intentionally
restricts food, sport nutrition or calories in an effort to lose weight or to
get leaner, you can see why health issues, beyond sickness and injuries, can occur.

And the above list does is not a list
that should be brushed off as "well, I'm training for an event and this
feeling/issue is "normal".

If you do want a change in muscle
or body fat for performance or health and want to ensure that your
season is not derailed due to a nutrient deficiency, low energy availability or
a complicated health issue, you must have an appropriate, safe plan to
ensure that health is not compromised in the process of improving
performance.

If a body composition modification is a
desired goal to enhance performance, the methods should not be strict, limited
or extreme. You should allow for gradual weight loss (not a quick fix), without
extreme food restrictions, excessive exercising, unsafe behaviors (starving,
purging, laxatives) or use of weight loss supplements.

If there is too much focus on what not to eat in an effort
to be thin, rather than what to eat in order to win, an obsession and
hyperawareness with food may intensify disordered eating patterns, which could
turn into a clinical eating disorder and severely affect your
health and quality of life.

If you are constantly focused on the outcome, like being a
great fat burner and/or getting leaner, you will find a constant struggle as to
how you can actually improve your performance to be fit enough to race well on
race day while intentionally trying to lose weight.

Ironically, when you put emphasis into how to train and eat in order to
optimize performance, thus becoming "performance adapted", favorable
body composition changes occur naturally because you are trained, fit and
strong for your upcoming event.

Athletes, it is time to forget the diet mentality. Let’s
make peace with food. Stop associating all of your health, performance and body
issues with carbohydrates.

Instead of trying to manipulate your
diet or training regime to become better fat adapted, how about train and eat
in a way that helps you become more performance adapted.

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Welcome to Trimarni!

The Trimarni mission is to help athletes reach performance goals without compromising health.
Marni has a great understanding of physiology of the human body during exercise and how food affects a body in motion.
She focuses her time helping triathletes and runners learn how to maximize fitness while keeping the body in good health. Marni is well educated in the areas of sport nutrition (for training and racing) and triathlon coaching, exercise physiology and strength training, for athletes of all fitness levels. She specializes in endurance training and sport nutrition, with a great understanding of the metabolic, immune and hormonal stress that occurs when training for a long distance event. Behind every great athlete is a well planned diet - she also helps athletes create great daily nutrition habits to support consistent training.
Marni is passionate about helping athletes train smarter in order to reach performance, body composition and health goals faster.
Karel is an experienced RETUL bike fitter and bike mechanic and is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to all things bikes and cycling.
Marni and Karel coach a team of triathletes alongside providing services to triathletes, cyclists and runners.

About us

Marni holds a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology and she is a Board Certified Sport Dietitian who specializes in coaching and sport nutrition for endurance athletes. Marni is passionate about helping athletes of all levels learn how to fuel and eat to maximize performance, while keeping the body healthy. She is a 11x Ironman finisher including 4 Ironman World Championship finishes. In, 2015, Karel and Marni both competed in the 2015 IM World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Marni holds an Ironman PR of 10:06 (2016 Ironman Austria), where she had the fastest overall female swim time (57.06) and placed 2nd AG (30-34), finishing fastest amateur female American and 4th amateur female (10th overall female). Marni is a well-known writer and contributes frequently to Ironman, Triathlete Mag, USAT and can be found quoted in other publications like Runner's World, Shape, Women's Running, Fitness and Men's Health. Marni is enjoys public speaking and working one-on-one with athletes at camps and clinics. Marni is a long-time lacto-ovo vegetarian (since the age of 10) as she loves animals.

Karel is an accomplished Cat 1 cyclist turned Ironman triathlete. He was the former general manager of the Trek Bicycle store in Jacksonville, FL and now works at Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition as a coach and RETUL bike fit expert. Karel has successfully completed 6 Ironman distance triathlons and has qualified for the Ironman World Championship twice (in 2014 at IMWI and in 2016 at IMMT). He holds an Ironman PR of 9:13 (2016 IM Austria) and at 2016 Ironman Mont Tremblant, he clocked the fastest amateur male run split (3:08) of the day.

When Marni and Karel are not working, they can be found cooking/eating, exploring Greenville, SC or spending time with their four-legged furry child Campy.